


Pining

by MJays



Series: Gigolas Camp AU! [4]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Gigolas - Freeform, Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25554712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MJays/pseuds/MJays
Summary: Legolas finds Gimli splitting wood shirtless, and promptly reevaluates his entire life.
Relationships: Gimli (Son of Glóin) & Legolas Greenleaf, Gimli (Son of Glóin)/Legolas Greenleaf
Series: Gigolas Camp AU! [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1846567
Kudos: 110





	1. Legolas

Legolas gulped sharply, eyes wide.

He liked to think that he was generally very hard to catch of guard. A lot of the kids had tried to scare him after Rosie noticed he was the only one not jumping a feet into the air after some prank (most certainly pulled by Merry and Pippin, but with this one they couldn't prove it was them) involving a very sudden and very loud stereo. But Legolas wasn't shocked that easily. He could take most things with a poker face. 

Only, he just so happened to not be able to take this particular situation very subtly. 

Gimli was standing just a few metres away from him, chopping up some wood for tonight's fire with one of his old axes. 

Fucking shirtless. 

Feeling all the blood rush to his face in a sudden wave, Legolas managed to stumble backwards to hide behind the wall he'd just rounded. Leaning against it, he pushed one hand to his forehead in an attempt to ground himself. 

Because _bloody heck_. He knew, he knew! He was so well aware that Gimli was thick. He'd seen Gimli lift heavy objects before, and he knew a lot of strength was needed to swing a heavy ax around like that. 

More than that, Legolas had picked the dwarf up before just to annoy him. He'd been heavy and partly soft as was expected, he would have had to be stupid not to have known Gimli was both chubby and ripped. 

But- But it was another thing to actually get the proof right there in front of his eyes! With! No! SHIRT!

He also could have guessed that Gimli would have such a hairy chest, because he'd seen his arms and face. The thick hair had been visible against his dark skin even from the great distance, and there was a lot of it. Legolas quickly shut down the thought that he'd want nothing more than to run his fingers through it and see if it was soft, if the chest was warm beneath it. 

Legolas never would have believed he'd think body hair as attractive, having always been expected to find attraction to only other elves. That was before Gimli had casually pushed up the sleeves of his button up shirt right in front of him, revealing a very enticing underarm. And this was a problem. This was a big, big problem. 

Covering his burning face with his hands, Legolas hit his head against the wooden wall behind him, at least having the common sense not to do it too loudly. 

But it wasn't entirely his fault, was it?! What was Gimli even doing running around half naked?

Elves were generally far less prude than other races, especially than dwarfs, so it wasn't as if he hadn't seen the chests of men before. But elves were so different! They were all tall and lean and hairless and by Mandos, the heat in his face just wouldn't subside!  
  
He decided it was the shock of seeing a body type he hadn't before, that must have been the only reason he was acting like a love struck elfling. Besides, he'd been caught of guard! Sure, it was secluded enough, but anyone could have gotten a panic attack at a situation like this, right?  
  


Legolas used to think he was too refined to ever appreciate a sweaty, hairy man like that. He'd been raised in a pristine household, mansion most would call it. His dad would always look picture perfect, as would their wealthy guests (most often business partners) and the expensive private tutors he'd grown up with. Even as a kid Legolas wasn't allowed to look a mess, so of course it was what he'd grown to expect from those around him. 

He remembers his first summer working here, which coincidentally was Gimli's first as well. The first night, and the dwarf had had a burping competition with Boromir and Aragorn. Legolas had been utterly revolted, frankly wondering just what he'd gotten himself into with this job, before excusing himself to the restroom. 

Gimli had been none of the things Legolas had spent his life considering beautiful. He wasn't elegant or tall or graceful. 

No, Gimli's hair was so thick and unkempt, his chest apparently very hairy and his movements quick and sometimes brute. 

And he would sometimes look a mess?He'd get in with his shirt all pushed up and wrinkled, his hair windswept and his forehead sweaty from labor. And Legolas found soon enough, that when Gimli looked a mess, _he looked_ _hot_. 

Which was the entirety of the problem!

But Legolas knew that of course he couldn't just gawk at Gimli, no no. 

Which was why he did the only sensible thing and hightailed out of there, completely forgetting that he was supposed to help Gimli with cleaving the wood. 


	2. Gimli

Gimli found himself, for the hundredth time that summer, harshly cursing his luck. 

How did he even manage to find himself in situations like this?! He was an honorable dwarf! He never wished for any of it!

The problem had started with a failing system. The camp leaders all had their small separate bedrooms, but the few bathrooms they had were each shared between two or three of them. Luckily, Gimli only had to share with Aragorn, and he did nothing Gimli could complain about. It was a system that worked, and had always worked. That was until that one fateful day when it simply didn't.

Legolas', Boromir's and Faramir's shower had for some reason decided to give up. Barely any water was apparently coming out of it, and no one in their gang of leaders happened to know much about plumbing (which was a bit odd seeing as they all seemed to be people with extraordinarily weird and different abilities). 

So they'd had to call in a plumber. Who wouldn't be there for a week, seeing as it was in the middle of the summer and their camp was far out into the woods. 

But given the fact that it was in the middle of the summer, it was of course very, very warm. And most of the camp leaders prepared and spent their specialized activities outside, and many of them took a lot of bodily work. 

So it came as no surprise that each one of them wanted to shower every day before dinner. Which wasn't too fun seeing as Legolas was now also added on his queue for the one shower. Of course Gimli had been willing to share with a third party in this evident crisis. It wouldn't be a big deal at all, and normally, Gimli wouldn't have minded waiting for a bit. Legolas liked long showers he knew, but the elf had promised to hurry up when Gimli had gotten there just a few moments after he had. 

But at that moment, Gimli was very warm and sweaty from the impossibly hot day, and already late for the dinner. Frankly, he was worried that there would be nothing but vegetables and bread left for him at this pace. 

"What's taking so damn long?!" Gimli shouted through the door, feeling uncomfortable in his own grimy skin. He wanted the sweet feeling of cold water and then a nice meal, and damned be Legolas if he kept it from him for much longer because of silly conditioner (which Gimli was sure was just a corporate trick to double up the cost. His hair was fine as could be with just shampoo, thank you very much).

"Patience is a virtue, Gimli!" Legolas called back, and Gimli tried not to get riled up.

But just as Gimli was prepared to go and bang his fist against the door, it finally opened. 

"Jeez, you have no patience at all. I said I would hurry up," Legolas said when he emerged, tossing his nearly soaking hair over one shoulder as he fixed Gimli with an annoyed stare. 

Only thing was, Gimli was sort of having a hard time meeting his eyes. Because for some Makers forsaken reason, Legolas was wearing nothing but a towel. 

"What the hell are you doing?" Gimli squeaked out immediately, going beat red alarmingly fast and completely against his will. 

"What?" Legolas asked back, sounding both annoyed and confused. Tilting his hip to the side, he crossed his arms over his chest defensively and Gimli blessed the action for making him remember to look Legolas in the eyes again. 

"Why the hell are you still in a towel?" Gimli explained hastily, trying to fix the damage he'd caused with a proper explanation. "You change in the bathroom! Because in case you've forgotten, there are a lot of kids here and you're supposed to be a responsible adult!" 

"Well you were rushing me so very badly I presumed you'd preferred me to change in my room!" Legolas shot back at him, voice equally loud. "I live just next door and the kids are all at dinner so I don't know what you're going on about!"

What Gimli was going on about, was the small droplet of water slowly running down Legolas distinct collarbone, and the movement of his bare and defined biceps as they held the towel in place. The towel that was held high and slightly folded, making it very short. 

He'd seen Legolas skin before, the lake incident still hauntingly fresh in his mind, but now... Now it was after Gimli had realized how he felt about his friend, and that made it so much worse. He did his best to ban all sorts of fantasies of Legolas' soft looking lips on his own, their hands in each other's hair or the feel of the skin so very exposed to him in that moment. Thoughts that simply had to be pushed to the very darkest corner of non existence. 

Gulping slightly, Gimli immediately went back to frowning, trying to match Legolas' annoyance. 

He knew that Legolas was generally very unabashed so to speak, and maybe Gimli could be considered a bit prudish. It was a difference between elves and dwarfs too, he had learned. Maybe the towel didn't reveal much other than he'd already seen the days they'd spent with the kids at the lakes around, but it was the principle of the matter! Sunbathing, going for a swim, sure, those were acceptable situations to wear, well, less. But there were social conducts for a reason! He couldn't - he couldn't just stand in front of someone with a towel like that! 

Gimli couldn't confront the stupid elf about this though, because god knows he could end up revealing something he shouldn't. Namely the enormous crush he was currently harboring on his coworker. 

Maybe crush was the wrong word. Because it had definitively not been an instantaneous infatuation about looks. No, at first, Gimli hadn't considered how Legolas' looked much at all, and when he had, he'd seen him as way too tall and lanky for his taste, and most certainly too perfect, for lack of better word. His hair and skin and movement were all too flawless, lacking characteristics. Gimli generally found himself attracted to dwarfs of any gender who were wider, more robust and tough (not that Legolas wasn't tough, but that had only managed to get on Gimli's nerves before). Not picture perfect city slickers in pristine clothes and neat hairdos. 

He'd thought Legolas was the exact opposite of him, and he hadn't been very wrong about that. But after the many, many days they'd spent together, Gimli had slowly grown to realize that most of his presumptions were wrong. Not only about who Legolas was as a person (because boy had he been wrong about that), but also about his own preferences. 

Slowly, he'd begun to notice when Legolas had shorts, because there was something enticing about legs so long, even if they were completely hairless. He wanted to know how Legolas' arms looked slim enough when he was so impossibly strong, wanted to feel the defined muscles beneath his fingers. Wanted to touch his smooth and defined jaw, to feel their chests pressed together, their heartbeats mingling. 

Gimli's crush had been emotional far earlier than it had been bodily. But doubtlessly, his bodily crush had grown against his will, no matter how he fought against it. And it made this situation very, very hard to deal with. 

In the quite literal manner. 

"Just get out of the hallway already!" He squeaked out, moving to turn away from Legolas before the elf picked up on anything. 

"I was just about to when you stopped me," Legolas defended himself, walking past Gimli with a surety that wasn't at all bothered by the short towel. A moment later, and he'd disappeared behind his door, leaving Gimli to stare at nothing. 

It took him a over a minute to regain his bearings, the redness still covering his face. Closing the door behind him, he knew he'd need a very, very cold shower. 


End file.
